As Latham & Watkins' white-collar chief Kathy Ruemmler prepares to exit the firm for Goldman Sachs, eyes will be on who will take the helm of the Latham group, which has defended a series of high-profile clients in recent years.

Goldman Sachs tapped Ruemmler, a former Obama White House counsel based in Washington, D.C, as its next global head of regulatory affairs, according to a Monday announcement. She has served as the global chair of Latham's white-collar defense and investigations practice since 2014.

A firm spokeswoman did not say who would succeed Ruemmler as the global chair of Latham's white-collar defense practice. The vice-chairs of Latham's white-collar defense and investigations practice include New York-based Benjamin Naftalis and Nathan Seltzer, who is in London and Washington, D.C.

At Goldman Sachs, Ruemmler will oversee the compliance policies of a longstanding Latham client, as well as the bank's interactions with regulators around the globe, Goldman Sachs said. She will also serve as the co-chair of Goldman Sachs' regulatory reform steering group, the co-vice chair of its firmwide reputational risk committee, and a member of the bank's management committee.

As the global chair of Latham's white-collar defense and investigations practice, Ruemmler took on high-profile cases, including representing Microsoft in a fight with Amazon over a $10 billion cloud-computing contract the U.S. Department of Defense had awarded to Microsoft.

"Kathy is a great friend to many of us, and an incredibly talented, brilliant lawyer," said Rich Trobman, Latham chair and managing partner, in a statement. "Her many accomplishments in public service are well known, and she also was a terrific mentor, practice builder, leader and partner. We wish Kathy much success as she joins our longstanding client Goldman Sachs."

This is the second time Ruemmler has left Latham; the first time was in 2009, when she joined the Obama-era Department of Justice. President Barack Obama named her as White House counsel in 2011, a role she held for three years before she rejoined Latham again. Obama once considered Ruemmler as a potential successor to Eric Holder as U.S. attorney general but Ruemmler declined.

Among the internal investigations Ruemmler led at Latham was a probe into the unspecified misconduct allegations leveled against Andrew Sandler while he was at his firm, Buckley Sandler. The firm, now known as Buckley LLP, accused Sandler of refusing to cooperate in Ruemmler's probe.

Ruemmler also represented Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., which was investigated by the DOJ for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Prosecutors notified Ruemmler in February 2019 that it discovered Cognizant signed off on a $2 million bribe to government officials in India but declined to prosecute the company in exchange for its cooperation.

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